Sunday, June 17, 2018

Spotlight on best seller Jane Porter @authorjanep and her #contemporaryromance #newrelease from Tule Publishing, Take a Chance on Me

Please welcome Jane Porter, New York Times and USA
bestselling author.Today I have my
spotlight onTake a Chance on Me. Please stay tuned for an excerpt at the end of the post.

Take A Chance On Me – Blurb:

Savvy stylist Amanda Wright loves Marietta, her hair
salon, and her clients, and no client is more dear to her heart than
eighty-year-old Bette Justice–even if her years have made her a little fragile.
So when Bette asks Amanda to help her convince her determined grandson, Tyler,
a successful game designer, that Marietta is the right home for Bette, Amanda
can’t say no.

Tyler Justice has a
one-track mind–he wants to take care of his beloved grandmother. He can’t understand
her resistance to move to Texas and is sure that the young friend she keeps
mentioning–Amanda–is taking advantage of his grandmother’s generosity. He
reaches Marietta determined to put the salon owner in her place and bring his
grandmother home…until smart, kind Amanda starts to tug at his heart in ways he
never expected.

But just as Tyler and Amanda start to form a real
connection, will a long-buried family secret destroy their chance at love?

Jane Porter bio:

New York Times and USA
Today bestselling author, Jane Porter holds an MA in Writing from the
University of San Francisco and has written 55 novels since getting her first
sale to Harlequin Presents in 2000. A six time RITA finalist, and RITA winner
in July 2014 for Take Me, Cowboy, Jane is known for her passionate,
powerful stories and relatable heroines. An advocate for writers, Jane founded
Tule Publishing in 2013 to give romance and women’s fiction authors support and
opportunities. Jane and Tule Publishing are both based in sunny San Clemente,
CA.

It wasn’t often that she had a stranger in her chair
at The Wright Salon, much less a thirty-something-year-old male, that also
happened to be impossibly handsome, as in the handsome of Hollywood hunk or
romance cover hero.

Amanda Wright knew her romance cover heroes, too, as
she and her sister Charity had lived off them growing up, surviving their harsh
reality by living on fantasies and fairy tales. Jenny, their oldest
sister, had been appalled, and would confiscate their paperbacks, tossing them
out if she found them. Which is why Amanda and Charity learned to hide
their romances between their mattresses, or stuff them inside the sleeves of
their ugly, thrift store rainbow-hued winter coats.

Romance cover heroes were usually darkly handsome as
well as inscrutable and enigmatic, traits not found in most small Montana
towns. No, in small Montana towns like Marietta, men tended to be polite,
practical and dependable, and there was nothing wrong with practical and
dependable men, but it just wasn’t exciting, and Mandy was holding out for a
true romance hero, one that wasn’t just handsome, but a man that was powerful,
successful, complex. Enigmatic.

And her client, Ty James, could easily pass for the
enigmatic romance hero with his thick brown hair, light eyes the color of the
sea, chiseled jaw, and firm chin. Never mind his lips which were pretty
much perfect, especially when he smiled. It was the smile of movie
stars—confident, easy, sexy—which made it almost impossible to focus, which
wasn’t a good thing as she was wielding very sharp scissors, very close to his
strong tanned nape.

“You’ve been a stylist for a long time?” he asked, as
she gently pressed his head forward a bit, trying to give her a better view of
his hairline while also trying to hide his gorgeous reflection from her line of
sight. His good looks were distracting. He, was distracting,
and she didn’t normally fall for a pretty face. In fact, she couldn’t
remember the last time a man made her heart pitter pat, and it wasn’t just
doing a pitter pat right now, but a full on, racing horse gallop.

“Nine years,” she answered, “six full-time. The
first three I was in college.”

“What did you study?”

“Psychology.” She paused, ran her comb through
the back of his hair, checking the length, making sure lines were
straight. She glanced up into the mirror, caught his eye, and noted his
surprise. “I like people.”

“You must get to know your customers quite well.”

“I do. I’m very attached to my customers.” She
paused, smiled ruefully. “Well, most of them. There are a couple that
drive me slightly bonkers, but they just make me appreciate the rest all the
more.”

“What do the frustrating ones do to drive you
bonkers?”

“Arrive thirty minutes late for a forty-five-minute
appointment or forget to show at all.”

“That’s it?”

She smiled again and shrugged. “I have really
good customers.”

His green gaze held hers in the mirror that for a
moment she completely lost focus.

“I noticed you had more starred reviews on Yelp than
any other stylist in town,” he said, snapping her focus back.

“I do encourage them to leave a review if they’re
happy,” she answered.

“Clearly, they’re happy.”

“It’s a win-win, then.” Amanda felt herself
growing warmer by the moment. What on earth was wrong with her?
Hand shaking, she reached for her colorful bottle on her station shelf and took
a quick drink of water, trying to cool herself off. It had obviously been far
too long since she’d spent time with an attractive man because this was
ridiculous. She was genuinely flustered.

“You have a name on the back of one of your chairs,”
he said, watching her in the mirror. “Is it a memorial?”

She looked to see where he was pointing and
laughed. “Oh, no. No! Bette is very much alive, as well as a
very dear client and friend. She did something nice for me and so I gave
her her very own chair. Only Bette is allowed to sit there, and that way
she always knows I have time—and a spot—for her.”

“She must have liked that.”

“I think so.” Mandy took a comb and drew it
through his hair, checking the length. “So, you’re in town for a meeting
tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re staying at the Graff?”

“It’s a nice hotel.”

“I’ve never actually stayed there, but it’s fun to go
for drinks or their Sunday brunch.”

“Do you go often?”

“A couple times a year. Just for special
occasions. Most of the time my sister and friends head to Grey’s.
More our style, as well as a lot less spendy.”

Tyler James Justice had expected Amanda Wright to be
polished and stylish—she did hair for a living, after all—but he hadn’t
expected her to be quite so pretty.

Or kind.

Or appealing.

But she was pretty, strikingly pretty, and disarmingly
sweet. Make that charming. For a moment he’d wondered if she’d had
work done, and then he spotted the photo of three gorgeous blonde women tucked
into her mirror, and asked, “Girlfriends or sisters?” as he nodded to the
photo.

She steadied his head, preventing him from moving
again. “Sisters. I’m the baby.”

“When was this picture taken?”

“My sister’s wedding a couple years ago.”

“Do your sisters live here in Marietta, too?”

“Charity does. Jenny and her husband have a
ranch in Colorado.”

“What does Charity do?”

Mandy didn’t answer immediately, her elegantly arched
brows flattening as she concentrated on trimming the hair close to the tip of
his right ear. On one hand he was impatient for her to answer, but on the
other he appreciated her attention to detail and not nicking his ear.

“She works for a Realtor on Main Street,” Amanda
finally said, before tipping his head forward and taking a razor to his nape,
cleaning up the back of his neck. “I’m hoping, though, to eventually
bring her here to help me manage the salon.”

“It wouldn’t be hard working with her?”

“Not at all. Charity is my best friend.
We’re two peas in a pod. Mom used to say we were more like twins than
twins. What about you?” she asked. “Do you have brothers or
sisters?”

He hesitated. “I had a brother. He died
serving the country.”

Her hand went to his shoulder, her touch firm,
warm. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

He swallowed around the unexpected lump in his
throat. He rarely talked about Coby, and he never got emotional when he
did, and he wasn’t at all sure why he’d mentioned his brother to her.

He nodded, unable to say more, because it had
devastated them, and Coby’s death had changed the dynamics of the family.

“You said you were here for business,” she said,
changing the subject. “You must be in the ranching business then.”

“No. I’m in tech.”

Her full lips pursed. “Tech?”

“I design games.”

“Games?” she repeated, a delicate eyebrow arching.

“Computer games.”

“That must be fun.” Her eyes met his in the
mirror. She was smiling, and it did something funny to his chest.

“It’s creative,” he answered.

“You’re giving people something fun to do. Good
for you. People need entertainment to help us unplug from the world,
don’t you think?”

He found himself watching her as she took the big soft
brush and went over his nape, brushing off stray hair. “I do.”

He wished he’d been prepared for her, and not just how
pretty she was with her high cheekbones and gleaming blonde hair pulled back in
a high teased ponytail, but her kindness and good nature. She reminded
him of spring rain—sweet and refreshing—which wasn’t at all his impression of
her before he came.

“How is the length?” she asked, turning the chair and
handing him a mirror so he could see the back of his head. “Any shorter?”

“It’s a little longer than I usually wear it,” Tyler
said. “But I like it. Looks good.”

“I think so, too. It gives you a 70’s rock star
vibe.”

“I’m not that.”

She laughed, and a dimple appeared at the corner of
her full lips. “Well, if you’re a game designer, you can be anyone you
want to be.” She unsnapped the black plastic cape, removing it from
around his shoulders. “How long are you in town?”

“A couple of days. Maybe a week.”

“Well, I hope you enjoy your stay. Marietta is a
great little town. Everyone that comes here, falls in love—”

“Nothing. But I’m not looking for love. Or
a new place to live. I like Austin.”

“A Texas boy.”

California, he wanted to correct her, as he’d only
relocated to Austin two years ago, but there was no point in telling her any of
that. They weren’t friends, and furthermore, once she knew who he really
was, they’d never be friends. The warmth inside of him cooled, and his
smile faded. Standing, he reached for his wallet. “How much do I
owe you?”

“Thirty-five. And you can pay Emily. She’s
at the desk in reception.”

“You did a good job.”

“Then leave a review,” she teased, reaching for the
broom and dustpan tucked in the corner next to her station. “And enjoy
Marietta. It’s a great place to be.”

“I’ll try,” he answered.

“Not good enough,” she called after him.

He turned in the doorway to look back at her, all
golden blonde and astonishingly pretty in the winter sunlight, and yet she was
smiling at him in a way that made his chest ache.

She made him feel young and hopeful, just as he’d felt
as a boy when he’d see a cute girl. But he wasn’t a boy, and he wasn’t in
town because he wanted to be, but because he needed to be. He’d arrived
to put distance between this woman and his grandmother, a move that wasn’t
going to make him popular with anyone. “Goodbye.”

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About Me

I do my best to blend fast-paced action with personal struggles and tender romance. Romantic suspense is my genre, and I write for Tirgearr Publishing in Ireland. Deadly Alliance has a release date of February 2016. I'm writing the sequel, Alliance of Liars.